


Walking Through Stardust

by xdefenestrationx



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Help, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-20 02:56:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16547504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xdefenestrationx/pseuds/xdefenestrationx





	Walking Through Stardust

Rain would have suited Frost's current predicament much more nicely. His head was leaning against the cool glass of the bus's window- a refreshing numbness to his right temple. The chill of winter had not yet passed, so the windows were covered in a white, almost opaque sheen that gave Frost his name. And yet, the man's eyes were focused dimly on the one he leaned against. Every now and then, he would spot a dark tree flash by from the small crack amidst the white, and then he would see nothing but rushing leaves of bushes again. There was much more vegetation already than there was in the city.

 

The city was a dull, bland place. It wasn't often that you would see a color other than gray, but it didn't matter much, because a prolonged amount of time there would wipe your sense of color away anyway. The Valley was a green glimmer of hope for the young adult, and he jumped on it as fast as possible. Any place was better than the city he had been previously stuck in. Now, the lonely bus trailed on through the night, taking him along the smooth trail.

 

A small part of Frost had been hoping to catch some z's on the ride to Stardust Farm, but his sleep-deprived body kept him staring out the visible parts of the window, not letting him get any rest. Frost knew that this new change in his life couldn't erase everything from the past. He couldn't just drop and forget everything. Maybe after a while of not hearing his parents' voices, he would yearn for them more. And maybe he could come to terms with so many aspects of his life that he had trouble accepting on the farm. Unlikely, but doable. Frost could get over many things. But none of it would be instanteous. When the bus arrived to pick him up, he was almost immediately sickened by the Joja blue of the vehicle. That same shade followed him through every crook and crevice of his life, and it seemed that not even the country could truly hide him from the tasteless Joja fruit. 

 

A few bumps in the road later, the bus's speed began to slow, and Frost could feel his body shifting forward from the inertia as the bus slid to a stop and its doors loudly exhaled in relief. The chilly air that came with the beginning of spring permeated the poorly conditioned air of the bus, and Frost caved in on himself. His fingers twitched, wondering what their next move would be.

 

"This is your stop," said a man with a dark moustache from his place at the driver's seat.

 

"Thank you," Frost replied, but didn't move. He looked through the crack again for a moment, thinking of something. He squinted his eyes, but stood up and took down all of his baggage from the thin compartment above the seat and dragged it behind him out the door.

 

Frost had expected the chirping of crickets to greet him as he stepped out, but the Valley was eerily silent; it didn't speak, and gave Frost no answers.

 

"See ya around," the bus driver gave Frost a tip of his hat and closed the bus doors before driving off into the night, and leaving Frost all alone with his thoughts and belongings.

 

Frost scanned the dark area, and could make out a small dirt path away from the curb of the road. It split into two a little further down, and Frost suddenly found himself wishing he was a little more concrete with the directions to the farm. Surely it couldn't be that hard to find the houses, though.

 

The wheels of his case were a comfort that kept Frost in the moment and reality. The persisting dread that this was all a dream sent shivers down his back, and he needed something to ground him. The harsh rolling of the small wheels ceased for a second when Frost momentarily picked up the case to put it on the curb, and then resumed again, but this time with a satisfying softness against the dirt of the ground.

 

As Frost came upon the split in the road, he looked to the right and left. With his eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the dark, he could make out that the ground turned to pavement a little ways down to the left, and there was an empty mailbox to the right, which stood to the left of what looked like a house. Frost hummed decisively and took the path to the right.

 

His assumptions had been correct when he guessed that he was heading towards the farm. He came across the expansion of the farm, and noted that there was actually more water than land. A dense area of trees stood the right of the house, but when Frost looked closer, he saw the silhouettes of even more buildings beyond them. Perhaps that would be where he would stay.

 

In front of the first house was a few rows of soil that looked different from the rest, and held several sprouts that were poking out their heads above the ground. It was easy to determine that they were vegetables, and some were even ready to be picked. Still, there was wasn't enough vegetables for anyone to even hope to make a stable income, so thoughts of how the current farmer was living arose. After a minute of staring at the vegetables, Frost turned and approached the house. He placed his case down neatly beside him and started looking in the bag that hung off his shoulder when he came up to the door. Eventually, he pulled out two sheets of paper stapled together and knocked on the door. 

 

There was in response for a while. Frost knocked again, harder this time. Nothing. Frost knocked a final time, almost slamming his knuckles against the door. There wasn't any doorbell in sight. When there was silence, Frost sighed and turned to leave, but his ears caught the hasty ruffling of cloth and taps against wood floor. His eyes shining hopefully, Frost turned back around to face the door, noticing that the taps turned into heavy stomps, and not the good kind. They came closer and grew louder, and then stopped right at the door. There was a clinking of a small chain behind the wood, and then the door swung open so fast that Frost would have been surprised it didn't fly off its hinges, if it hadn't come way too close for comfort. With reflexes he didn't know he had, Frost stepped back just in time to avoid having his nose destroyed by the door. The wind that the door gave off ruffled his hair slightly, and Frost blinked a few times when he noticed nobody was at the door. 

 

His confusion was noticed, because a feminine voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Down here, asshat." Frost looked down to see a short young adult standing at the door. She was undoubtedly female, with long, dark hair that had become a rat's nest atop her head, and features that were drawn into a nasty scowl. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing at my door at 3:30 a.m.?"

 

Dumbfounded, Frost made a jumble of incoherent noises before settling with the only reply his brain could come up with. "Is this... Stardust Farm?"

 

"Yeah, obviously." The girl rolled her eyes so hard that her irises disappeared for a moment. "I'm gonna say it again. What the hell do you think you're-"

 

Now that he somewhat had control of his train of thought, Frost held out the sheets of paper he was holding. "I'm here to uh, work on the farm with... you."

 

The woman took the paper from his hands and spared it the quickest glance he had seen from anybody yet. "Oh, so you're one of them, huh? Couldn't have come at decent fucking time, though, I see..."

 

 _I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that._ Frost ignored the offhand comment and continued. "So um... you're the one who's taking care of the place for now...?"

 

"Noo, I'm a hermit that found this place a few months back. No one was living here so I went ahead and made myself at home." The woman sighed angrily and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She looked back up at him through angry eyes. "Listen, mister, I appreciate the fact that you want to help me out here on the farm, but don't you think you're maybe not the best suited for the job? No offense, but I just don't think that someone your age should be doing any manual labor."

 

Not even slightly surprised by the response, Frost deadpanned and used his finger to point at a section of the paper, near the top. The orbs of the woman followed his finger and squinted themselves to make out the words written on it in the darkness. A moment passed, and the girl's mouth dropped. "No way."

 

"Mhmm."

 

"No. No fucking way!" The woman made an exaggerated waving motion of her arms.

 

"Yes way."

 

"There's no way you're 23! How is your hair white?!"

 

"Platinum blond, actually." Frost bit the inside of his cheek. He watched briefly as the girl before him scanned his hair like a hawk before growling and returning her hands to their proper places. "Whatever, I'll check in the morning."

 

"Can I ask where I'll be staying for tonight?"

 

The woman rubbed her eyes and groaned dramatically before pouring out towards the expanse of trees. "There's some houses down there, yours will be the very last one. The two in the middle are reserved, but their owners won't be coming for a while." The girl stepped back inside the house and to the right to take something hanging off the wall. It was a small key. "Here."

 

Frost took the object with inquiring eyes. "Um, wouldn't it be better for me to just sleep in the house closest to you for tonight? So I don't have to walk all the way down there?"

 

The girl feigned rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Mm, no."

 

"Uh, why-"

 

"House isn't yours. Goodnight." The girl paused for a second. "My name's Olga. Come get me if you need anything." The female went to close the door but stopped midway. "Actually, on second thought, don't."

 

And with that, the door shut in Frost's face, almost taking his nose with it once more. The man sighed exasperatedly and grabbed his case's handle. He trudged down the imaginary road and through a bit of grassy terrain where the trees stood before seeing the second house. Once he passed it, he made out a path leading away to the right, but ignored it, since the third house was already in sight. He passed it as well, and went up the stairs to "his" house and unlocked it. It was dark inside, but with the moon shining down through a window inside, Frost could make out a fireplace, a table and chair, and a cooler on the opposite end of the house. Unsurprisingly, it only had one room, due to its small size. To the left of the room, at the corner closest to the entrance, was a door that Frost predicted was the bathroom, and across from it was a bed at the other end of the room. 

 

Frost made his way inside, closed the door, and took off his footwear. He situated his case behind the headboard of the bed and placed his key on top of it. The man walked across the room to pupil the curtains over the window, and then made his way back to the bed and made himself comfortable in it, without even bothering to change. He lay there, thinking of the events that had just unfolded for about twenty minutes, before his eyes naturally shut and his mind drifted off to sleep.


End file.
